Race Coverage
The Whole Shebang...
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Tuesday, 12 June 2012 03:00
(Great Photo - Iconic 88-year-old Bob Powers finishing on Sunday. Another great shot of Bob is on the next page. MTN thanks Drew Frakes and Nick Morales for the pics used in this post.)
Manitou Coverage - Harvey Skees should have won the 23rd Manitou Sprint Triathlon last Sunday. Not just his AG, but the whole shebang!...
Sure, Devon Palmer, who was the official whole shebang winner last weekend, as he had been on two prior occasions, as well, doesn't want to hear this. Nut up, Dev. Take it like a Man. A man with terminally un-groomed facial hair that is supposed to give him a "Sheriffy" Wyatt Earpy sort of look, but doesn't really. (Goateed 7th place finisher Phillip English should give Dev some tips, e.g. at least trim the parts that have ancient food particles in them.)
We digress.
Back to should-be champion Harvey Skees (photo below R. No, he didn't wear THAT trisuit on Sunday.), who is a lawyer, thus his word is totally unassailable.
Harve and a few others had to stop during the bike leg so as not to be killed or disfigured by a passing train. This happens sometimes at Manitou. Not often. Luckily, no triathlete has every lost a one-on-one with the Iron Horse.
According to tell-anyone-who-will-listen Mr. Skees, who, let's face it, is a HOOT!, he lost like a half hour waiting for the seemingly endless procession of boxcars to pass. Still, he ultimately charged on to a 2nd place finish in his AG and landed in the 24th position overall. His official time was 1:13:33. Not bad under any circumstances, huh? But it's hard not to be sad when you think that he should have posted a 43 or 44-minute time, which would have made Devon's official 59:58, which stands as the second fastest men's clocking in the history of the current course (since 2004), look kinda sick.
We feel bad for both Harvey and Devon, don't you?
So you know, Palmer enjoyed a whalelike 5:12 (!) lead on the next rider when he entered T2. When this was mentioned to him after the race, he responded matter-of-factly through his food-encrusted 'stache, "That's my job."
Cool.
Patrick Parish placed 2nd on Sunday and claimed the overall men's amateur title. His 15:39 closing 5K didn't hurt. Against amateur competition, Patrick is undefeated in five starts this season. The win was the 23rd of his career, which began in 2008. The 2010 US AOY HM may be in the running for another such accolade at season's end.
Placing an unsurprising 3rd for the dudes was six-time Manitou winner, Kevin O'Connor, who shortly after finishing relieved the heavily tattooed Sean Pease as Head Grillmeister at the Gear West Hotdog Stand, a welcome feature of every Midwest Multisport Series race. Manitou is Race #4 on this year's nine-event MMS schedule.
And speaking of six-time champions, Cathy Yndestad's hard-fought victory landed her in 8th place overall. Her 1:07:48 was the 2nd fastest women's time ever on this course, only her own 1:07:16 in 2009, the year she was crowned US Athlete of the Year, was brisker.
Placing 2nd just 38 ticks behind CY was Suzie Fox, her 1:08-and-change almost five minutes faster than she's ever raced here before. Suz's 2012 scorecard boasts one course record win (Oakdale) and four 2nds.
The final women's podium step was earned by rising star Stephanie Solfelt.
Though warm and windy, four non-open-class AG records were lowered on Sunday, the most dominating of which was posted by Lincoln Murdock, 55, of Omaha, NE, who raised the bar in his division by 3:01.
- 00-19W - Greta Danielson - 1:15:52 (Old Mark - Sarah Daniels - 1:16:10 - 2009)
- 55-59W - Carol Markham-Cousins - 1:25:08 (Old Mark - Jeanne Minder - 1:26:33 - 2008)
- 55-59M - Lincoln Murdock, NE - 1:11:06 (Old Mark - Mark Lawrence - 1:14:07 - 2008)
- 65-69M - Ben Ewers - 1:17:25 (Old Mark - Ben Ewers - 1:18:25 - 2011)
FYI, the next MMS race is the Lake Waconia Tri on June 24. LINK
The next race in the OptumHealth Performance Series--Manitou was the Series' kickoff event--is Minneman on June 30, which features a new Olympic event to go with its Sprint, which is a three-time Minnesota Race of the Year winner. LINK
NOTE: Parts of this post may have been slightly embellished.
